Symposium.
Agathon, Aristodemus, Socrates.
Socrates
enters : the
He is left behind in a fit of abstraction. 545
How strange, said Agathon ; then you must call him again,
and keep calling him.
Let him alone, said my informant ; he has a way of stop-
ping anywhere and losmg hmiseli without any reason. I mus,
believe that he will soon appear ; do not therefore disturb
him.
The courtesy of Agathon Well, if you think so, I will leave him, said Agathon, And then, turning to the servants, he added, 'Let us have supper without waiting for him. Serve up whatever you please, for there is no one to give you orders ; hitherto I have never left you to yourselves. But on this occasion imagine that you are our hosts, and that I and the company are your guests ; treat us well, and then we shall commend you.' After this, supper was served, but still no Socrates; and during the meal Agathon several times expressed a wish to send for him, but Aristodemus objected ; and at last when the feast was about half over — for the fit, as usual, was not of long duration — Socrates entered. At length Socrates enter: the compliments which pass between him and Agathon. Agathon, who was re- dining alone at the end of the table, begged that he would take the place next to him ; that ' I may touch you,' he said, 'and have the benefit of that wise thought which came into your mind in the portico, and is now in your possession ; for I am certain that you would not have come away until you had found what you sought.
How I wish, said Socrates, taking his place as he was desired, that wisdom could be infused by touch, out of the fuller into the emptier man, as water runs through wool out of a fuller cup into an emptier one ; if that were so, how greatly should I value the privilege of reclining at your side ! For you would have filled me full with a stream of wisdom plenteous and fair ; whereas my own is of a very mean and questionable sort, no better than a dream. But yours is bright and full of promise, and was manifested forth in all the splendour of youth the day before yesterday, in the pre- sence of more than thirty thousand Hellenes.
You are mocking, Socrates, said Agathon, and ere long you and I will have to determine who bears off the palm of wisdom — of this Dionysus shall be the judge ; but at present you are better occupied with supper.
176Socrates took his place on the couch, and supped with theVOL. I. N n
